War of the Flags

The War of the Flags was a series of battle fought between South Vietnamese and communist forces from January to February 1973 during and after the Paris Peace Accords talks.

The Paris Peace Accords of 27 January 1973 stipulated that the United States would withdraw its combat forces from Vietnam and allow for 145,000 North Vietnamese soldiers to remain in South Vietnam under a ceasefire. However, as soon as the US forces withdrew, the NVA resumed its attacks on South Vietnam. Before the ink had even dried on the Peace Accords ceasefire, each side sought to claim as much territory as it could in the "War of the Flags". Within three weeks of the ceasefire, there were already 3,000 violations by both sides, and South Vietnamese president Nguyen Van Thieu (who commanded the fifth-largest army on Earth) insisted that the ARVN take and hold every inch of South Vietnam. Meanwhile, the NVA had attacked Tay Ninh near the Cambodian border, hoping to establish a rival capital of their own in the South. Hanoi also installed surface-to-air missiles near Khe Sanh, just below the DMZ. The ARVN attacked enclaves seized by the NVA, and the fighting went on for months. The NVA built a new paved highway through South Vietnam down which convoys of 200-300 tanks, trucks, and heavy guns travelled, and they also laid down a large oil pipeline to fuel their vehicles in the south. President Richard Nixon broke his earlier promise to respond with American air power if Saigon was ever threatened, and, in June 1973, the US Congress voted to stop all military operations in or over Vietnam, Laos, or Cambodia by 15 August, insisting that they not be resumed without congressional approval.